Russia to continue discussions with West on Ukraine

PARIS, March 05, /ITAR-TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said his country would continue discussions on Ukraine with Western countries.

Lavrov on Wednesday, March 5, met with his colleagues from the United States, Germany, Great Britain, France, and Poland, as well as Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

“It was a long negotiating day. We agreed to continue our discussions,” the Russian minister said.

Lavrov and Kerry agreed that Ukraine needs assistance in implementing the February 21 agreement reached by the opposition and the authorities.

“We agreed that we should help Ukraine implement the agreement of February 21,” Lavrov said after a meeting with Kerry in Paris on Wednesday, March 5. “We have just held a meeting with John Kerry on the situation in Ukraine and the steps our partners are trying to take through the OSCE, the Russia-NATO Council and other international organisations; steps that do not help create an atmosphere of dialogue. John Kerry agreed that such atmosphere needs to be created. It’s very hard to make honest agreements that will help the Ukrainian people stabilise the situation in an atmosphere of threats and ultimatums,” the minister said.

After Lavrov had left the French Foreign Ministry, Ukraine’s acting Foreign Minister Andrei Deshchitsa entered the negotiating room to join his Western colleagues to further discussion.